Office Spaces Set to Get More Cramped with Increasing Workers Per Square Meter Space

New workplace research shows that 62 percent of corporate real estate executives have increased workplace density globally during the past three years. You may be getting to know your work neighbors even better in the years ahead, as 80 percent of corporations expect to increase space utilization even more during 2013 to 2016.

Given rising rentals and cost per square meter space, workers are increasingly being crammed into the same, or less space, and this is not always the best outcome for corporations. Workplace strategies that leverage real estate and technology improve the productivity of an organization’s greatest assets – its people and its culture. Even as corporate portfolio square footage per employee is shrinking, corporate real estate executives are increasingly focused on the quality of the workspace and offering choice, over pure size.

“New workplace strategies allow employees to work where they can be most productive on any given day, and where the right people can come together to collaborate,” explains Tim Venable, Vice President, Knowledge Services, at CoreNet Global. “Corporations are simultaneously focusing on reducing overall space usage—while also highly focused on supporting innovation. Innovation doesn’t often happen when employees are tied to a single location, every day.”

Implication

It is on this note that companies need to find ways to embrace a mix of solutions that include space inside the office and beyond the boundaries of the traditional corporate real estate portfolio. Yet, many companies face barriers that impede the implementation of flexible work environments, with 78 percent of poll respondents indicating that it was important to create more workplace choices for their companies. The demand for tailored technology solutions that applies the principles of shared space use to suit enterprise needs is likely to become a critical factor for a high-performance workplace.

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